Strange House In The Snow

Version One recorded November 1980, released as b-side of "Reward", January 1981

Julian Cope - vocals, viola

David Balfe - keyboards

Alan Gill - guitars

Gary Dwyer - drums

Version Two recorded November 1980, remix of version one, released on "Everybody wants to shag the Teardrop Explodes" album. Spring 1990.

Julian Cope - vocals, viola

David Balfe - keyboards

Alan Gill - guitars

Gary Dwyer - drums

Written by David Balfe and Julian Cope

Has there ever been such a wild disparity between an A side and a B side than "Reward" and "Strange house in the snow"? On the one side of the single a three minute blast of pure pop, on the other side a discordant blast of seemingly incoherent noise. The fans who bought the A side must have been shocked to hear the B side. Or maybe that was the point.

It's difficult to describe how "Strange House In The Snow" proceeds without sounding like a nutcase. I mean, there is a song there, it's just performed in such a discordant manner, and there's just so much happening in each second. It's a sensory overload to be honest and maybe that's the point too - an aural equivalent of the acid trips the band were regularly embarking on that Autumn.

In this case I can't really say how the song came about. The credits on the label assigns authorship to Julian Cope and Dave Balfe, but who provided what is unknown. The single lists Balfe first and Cope second, so did Balfe write the music first then Cope added lyrics? This is how it worked on "Reward" where Gill was listed first and obviously created the initial riff therein. Or in this case did they collaborate on the music, leaving Cope to write the lyrics and "melody"? Did Balfe walk into the studio saying "I've got this two note piano bass line, let's make it as mad as fuck?" Who knows? Maybe Balfe will read this and inform us? 

So it starts with a shaken tambourine and two bars of a two note piano introduction. And from there all hell breaks loose. Gill clangs out two discordant guitar chords, then a bar room piano plays an ascending and descending riff, which is slightly off, while Cope scrapes away at a viola like a five year old child during their first lesson. So far, so mad. Dwyer thumps in with occasional half speed bass and snare drum while Cope makes his first vocal entry, sounding hoarse and slightly panicking.

"Oh this particular something loosened my lips to sleep"

At which point the same vocal phrase is shoved through an Eventide Harmoniser and sped up, like the Laughing Gnome on bad drugs. And this is the point where the first time listener will think "Ok, we've got a weird one here".

"Hunters came pouring in from strange house in the snow"

Gill makes his guitar squawk and squeal, Dwyer hits his kit slow and heavy like Black Sabbath's eponymous song, It's almost a death march in this early verse. After the first verse, the drums speed up, though not playing a traditional four on the floor drum beat, there's a synth droning echoing the piano bass and some strange noises in the background..Cope continues to shout strange words, there's a synth trying to make a melody somewhere in the racket. And then it goes quiet, back to the tambourine and Gill's barely controlled guitar feedback.

"I came down from the mountains

I came down to see you

To see you"

And back to the discord and scratch...

"Davey - don't let me lose my reason

Don't let me lose my head

Or lose faith

Don't let me lose my head"

Is this aimed at Balfe? Does Cope need grounding from the chaos around him? 

After a minimal one note guitar solo the band career onwards while Cope gets more manic.

"I came down from the mountain

I killed all of your children

Strange as it may seem

Just as a ghost might play..."

More and more manic until Cope lets out a high blood curdling scream.

And back to quiet, sort of. The tambourine is still marking time, the viola scrapes and what sound like a boatload of Vikings chant in the middle distance. And Cope is now close to the microphone, intoning "I lose my sense of reason..." with an audible smile. "Put me in your pocket, til I get better" followed by a strangely joyous scream. Gill is all over the place by now, his guitar a mix of noise, feedback and discordant half chords. 

And finally a finale. Dwyer sets up a martial tom tom beat, Balfe holds a high droning synth note and Cope just lets loose.

"Why do you look so dour?

This is the way we jump and scream

Why do you look so dour?

This is the way we punch and kick

Punch and kick

Make the other children sick

Because we punch and kick"

And it stops dead on that last word, echoing into the distance. 

What the hell are you supposed to make of this? Hunters in the mountains, some house being invaded, everyone losing it, punching and kicking (yet another fighting reference in the Teardrops catalogue) and a reference to childhood - if "The great Dominions" is a not quite blissed out vision of childhood, this is positively nightmarish. Even the closing lines evoke a children's nursery rhyme - "This is the way we brush our teeth" etc. The song could be taken as a sequence of events, slightly unconnected, like a dream sequence. Or it could just be nonsense. 

Yet there's such a manic energy in the performance - everyone is on the edge of their own personal mania here - that it must have some meaning. It's also noticeable that the "Out of the culture bunker" tour brochure from June 81 publishes most of the lyrics to "Strange house in the snow". 

Around the same time in a Smash Hits Q and A Cope claims "Strange house" is his favourite Teardrops song.

There must be some significance to it. Even many years later it was added to the end of the "Everybody wants to shag the Teardrop Explodes" compilation of third album rejects and offcuts. It's not even the same era as the other eleven songs there, and it's been slightly remixed to emphasise Gill's guitar playing. Why? Why? Why?

I think "Strange house in the snow" may never be understood but it's a freaky mystery. Or maybe it's just the band having a laugh at our expense (have you ever considered what the initials spell?) But the viola may be the key here, because who else used a viola in an experimental manner? Is this a form of Velvet Underground tribute? That such a weird piece of music snuck into people's homes on the b side of their most popular single must have quietly pleased Cope. I suppose it's the dichotomy of the Teardrop Explodes - a nice smile with an evil glint in the eye. I'm sorry I haven't offered any solutions or insights for the song, but maybe there is no point - it's just a sound painting of chaos. 

SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE 

A few months ago, someone on Twitter alerted me to a video for "Strange House In The Snow" filmed by David Balfe around the time of the recording sessions. After an exchange of messages and some emails, someone else provided me with a newly created version of this video. As a special bonus, here it is. 

Endless thanks and love to both Gentleman Dude for starting the ball rolling and Persued By Trees for making the video and everything else. You are both legends.